Stephen Hopkins awaits dangerous offender decision after 'accepting' Crown's argument
Despite a weeks-long sex assault trial during which he called several witnesses and testified at length in his own defence, Stephen Hopkins said little over the course of a sentencing hearing that could see him imprisoned indefinitely.
Hopkins was convicted in 2022 of breaking into a Cowan Heights home and sexually assaulting a teenager. A year before that attack, he was convicted of assault and sexual assault for lunging at women running on Long Pond trail in St. John's.
Those convictions — plus three more allegations about sexual misconduct that have not been proven in court — are at the heart of the Crown's attempt to have Hopkins deemed a dangerous offender.
In Canada, dangerous offender status is granted only when a person meets a specific set of criteria. The Crown must prove Hopkins has shown a pattern of being unable to restrain himself and that his lack of restraint has a high probability of harming people in the future.
The Crown argued Thursday that all six of the incidents under scrutiny share similar features: they all involved lone, vulnerable and sometimes young women unknown to Hopkins and had a sexual element.
Hopkins also told his assessing psychiatric doctor, in a report submitted as evidence for this hearing, that the women appeared to "beckon" him, inviting him to engage in sex acts — a point prosecutors found particularly concerning.
"Mr Hopkins, without these women ever saying they want to engage with him, believes it," said Crown attorney Richard Deveau.
High risk to reoffend: doctor
Hopkins told Dr. Jasbir Gill, the doctor who assessed him, that he was only at risk of reoffending if false allegations were made against him — say, if a women "invited" him to engage sexually and then withdrew her invitation.
"Even if they changed their minds he [said he] would continue. That flies completely in the face of consent law in this country," Deveau told the court.
"He's basically telling us what he's going to do, and what he's going to do is what he's already done.… He's likely to act on those impulses again because he doesn't feel it's wrong."
Gill said at one point in her report that Hopkins is on the higher end of recidivism risk and has an 80 per cent probability of reoffending within the next decade.
"At the end of the day she clearly does not believe … he can be controlled in the community," Deveau said.
Hopkins, who has steadfastly refused legal representation, is at the helm of his own case. He spent this week quietly observing, speaking up during final arguments Thursday only to tell the judge that he accepted the Crown's submissions.
If the judge decides the Crown has proven Hopkins is a dangerous offender, he'll serve a mandatory minimum of seven years starting from the day of his arrest, counting time served. He'll then have the opportunity for parole every two years. He'll remain in prison as long as he's still considered a risk to the community, and if granted parole, he will remain under supervision for the rest of his life.
Hopkins's sentencing has been set for April 12.
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